Witch Born - LJ Swallow Page 0,38
quiet. Don’t trust anyone."
“Including you?”
Ethan smiles and smooths my hair, sending warmth flooding across my scalp as his fingers move back to my cheek again.
“Nobody should trust me, but you're safe. I don't want to hurt you. I told you, we can help each other."
His hand stays on my face, calloused fingers against my soft skin. The sheer physicality of the guy should terrify me, but Oriana is right. He’s someone who a girl would go back for more, every time.
Ethan’s eyes drop to my mouth, quickening my heart and sending a molten heat into my belly. “Good to hear,” I attempt to say lightly, but my voice is hoarse.
“Do you know what they say about me?” he asks and lifts his eyes back to mine.
“That you’re a loner who doesn’t talk or interact with other students.”
“They think I’m a monster, lurking in the background who’ll one day turn and rip the residents apart,” he says intently.
I moisten my dry lips. “And is that true?”
He blinks at me. “That’s what somebody here wants. I suppose one day we’ll find out.”
“We?”
“The four hybrids.” I shudder at the implication and he draws his hand away, fingers lingering on my cheek as he does. “I know what else they say about me, Eloise. Your friend. Other girls.”
My already racing heart goes into overdrive as I meet his green eyes.
If he’s waiting for a response, I don’t give him one, but I’m sure my expression confirms what he means. Does he realise his silent brooding draws girls to him more than Dorian’s in-your-face seductive charisma?
“Girls will always talk about guys who look like you,” I say with fake nonchalance.
“Then I probably have a reputation to live up to.” He shakes hair from his face. “With the right girl.”
Whether he means to or not, Ethan is blasting me with enough sexual energy to knock any girl into his bed. If he weren't a six-foot-six shifter, I'd lie to myself this is a lamia power.
I swallow. “Thanks for walking back with me,” I say, increasingly worried he’ll push his way into the room. But then, why would he? The guy seems clear on confronting the violence in this place, not adding to it. I don’t sense he’d hurt me; he’s focused on maintaining a distance from everybody.
Is he biding his time with me too?
“You are welcome.” He places his hands deep into his pockets.
I fight between moving away from the situation and standing with him longer, to see if I can break through in the way other girls can’t. I’m wary—of him and everything the academy holds still. I don’t know where to place allegiances.
But Ethan appears the same. He has no allegiance.
And he also has a body a girl could climb onto and allow herself to be smothered by sex, which honestly wouldn’t be the worst way to die.
"What are you?" I ask, not expecting him to answer.
“Crouching tiger.” He steps back from me and oxygen refills the space between us. “Good night, Eloise.”
I watch him walk in the opposite direction to the party. Is Ethan a tiger shifter too and there’s some weird, hidden territorial situation between his and Zeke’s families? If Ethan is, he looks nothing like Zeke—no markings and his build too bulky to be feline.
Crouching tiger?
I widen my eyes. Hidden dragon.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Francesca's meditation class is as big a joke as I expected and treated as such by the students. She enthusiastically involves herself in the exercise, eyes closed, which means most kids take the opportunity to ignore the lesson.
I stare down at the pink crystal in my hand, one similar to Marcus’s, that she handed out to each student, insisting this helps channel our inner peace.
Inner peace? At least the pebble-sized stone won't do much damage if thrown at somebody by a kid lacking inner peace.
Oriana drops hers on the floor, as do several others. A handful of students in the room appear to be genuinely meditating, stone clutched in hand. I closed my eyes for less than a minute because I’m unable to focus. The dolphin or whale sounds play again. Is this an excuse for her to pretend she's in her old environment?
One larger, clear crystal is positioned in the middle of the floor and we formed a circle around the large orb. Now that would do some damage. I stare for a few moments, attempting to figure out if this has any magical use or not. My family never used crystals in their magic —they weren't spirit-inclined and